E-348
06-05
Recognizing and Managing
Common Health Problems
of Beef Cattle
M
any health problems in beef cattle can be
managed successfully if they are detected
early. Cattle owners can prevent or minimize
losses by taking steps to keep the problems from
recurring or spreading to the rest of the herd.
Below are common problems found in beef cattle as well
as the probable causes of those conditions and suggested
measures to prevent recurrence.
“My cows’ eyes
are cloudy and runny.”
When cattle have cloudy, runny eyes, the inflamed and
painful eyeballs and eyelids are probably infected with a
virus or bacterium or damaged from sunlight or cancer.
These conditions include pink eye, IBR virus eye, cancer
eye or photo eye.
Specific diagnosis and proper treatment may require
close observation, available history, laboratory testing
and professional assistance.
Pink eye (infectious keratoconjunctivitis)
Although sporadic cases of eye diseases occur in all
seasons of the year, this highly contagious bacterial
disease is most common during the summer.
Floron C. Faries, Jr.
Professor and Extension Program Leader for Veterinary
Medicine, The Texas A&M University System
Observations: The onset of pink eye is sudden,
beginning with an excessive flow of
tears. The animal holds the eye
partially closed, rubs the eye and
seeks shaded areas. Soon an ulcer
develops in the central area of the
cornea and an opaque ring develops
around the ulcer. Within 48 hours of
onset, the entire cornea becomes
cloudy.
Next, the lining of the eyelids becomes
red with mucus and pus. As the ulcer
deepens and extends completely
through the cornea, the eye ruptures
and loses fluid, and the eyeball
collapses. The infection may affect one
or both eyes.
Management: The infected cattle must be isolated
and treated immediately by a
veterinarian to eliminate the infection
and prevent spread to other cattle.
IBR virus eye (infectious bovine
rhinotracheitis)
The IBR virus is transmitted through the air and can
spread rapidly through the herd. It causes upper
respiratory infections, and it is most prevalent in the fall
and winter.
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
Observations: In the early acute stage, a few cattle
may develop cloudy corneas, similar
to pink eye. The opacity spreads
inward from the outer edge of the
cornea, and there is no ulceration.
Management: Isolate the affected animals until
the viral infection runs its course,
and vaccinate the whole herd and
purchased replacements.
Cancer eye (squamous cell carcinoma)
Cancer often appears as smooth plaques on the eyeball
and ulcers or horn lesions on the eyelids. It occurs more
often in cattle with no eye pigment and those that are
constantly exposed to bright sunlight.
Observations: As in cases of pink eye, cancer eye
causes an excessive flow of tears.
This cancer can be identified by the
appearance of the lesions on and near
the eye. The cancerous growths develop
on the third, upper and lower eyelids
and eyeball, and they spread to internal
lymph nodes and organs.
Management: Early detection is necessary for heating
or freezing therapies or for surgical
removal of the tumor alone. In chronic
cases with more extensive involvement,
the entire eyeball and eyelids must be
removed.
Photo eye (photosensitization)
This noninfectious condition is a hypersensitivity
to sunlight after ingestion of various plants or
administration of certain drugs.
Observations: In addition to cloudiness of the cornea, with a prescribed medication to prevent
signs of photo eye include sunburn of
nonpigmented eyelids, nose, teats, vulva
and areas of the head, body and legs. If
the affected cattle are exposed to
sunlight for prolonged periods,
blindness and severe skin damage will
result.
Management: Protect the animal from sunlight until its
eyes and skin have healed. Shelter it
during the day and allow it to graze on
pasture at night.
“My calves have areas
of hair loss with skin lesions.”
Calves commonly become infected with ringworm
fungus and wart virus. These two infectious, contagious
conditions are easily recognized and differentiated by
the appearance of localized hair loss with skin lesions.
In cases where there is generalized hair loss with
skin lesions, possible causes other than ringworm or
warts include photosensitization, dietary deficiencies,
infections of worms and infestations of horn flies and
lice.
Ringworm fungus (dermatophytosis)
In the early stages, a fungus infection of the skin often
goes unnoticed because the affected areas are small and
slightly raised with roughened hair. Infected cows often
serve as sources of the fungus, which is transferred by
direct contact to calves.
Observations: After several weeks of the fungus
infiltrating the hair follicles, the hair
falls out, leaving distinct circumscribed,
grayish lesions. The scaly lesions
coalesce to form large patches of hair
loss at least 3 inches in diameter. They
are often located on the face and neck
and are more common in young cattle.
Management: Although the infection tends to clear up
spontaneously after several months,
separate and treat the affected calves
transmission to the others.
Warts (papillomatosis)
Warts are fibrous tumors of the skin and mucous
membranes and are caused by many strains of the
papilloma virus. The virus is usually transmitted to
calves by direct contact from infected cows. It also can be
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
transmitted by contaminated instruments that puncture
the skin and by biting flies such as horn flies and stable
flies.
Observations:
The cauliflower-type growths occur
primarily on the head, neck and
shoulders, in the mouth and vagina,
and on the teats, vulva and penis.
Management: To prevent transmission to other calves,
isolate those with warts. Over a period
of 3 to 12 months, the affected calves
build immunity against the virus in the
warts and skin. Once the immunity kills
the viruses, the warts dry and slough.
“Every winter, my cows rub
their heads, necks and
shoulders.”
Even though lice are known in the winter to cause cattle
to itch and rub on objects such as fences, posts, trees and
barns, another common cause of itching and rubbing is
the aftermath of the allergic dermatitis produced during
the previous summer and fall by a horn fly infestation.
Horn fly allergy (allergic dermatitis)
During the horn fly season, cattle often develop a skin
allergy to the saliva of the biting horn flies. After several
weeks, an inflammatory reaction occurs in the skin, and
many hair follicles are destroyed.
Observations: Before the damaged hair falls out during
the winter, the retained hair causes an
itch sensation, and the cattle rub their
faces, necks and shoulders from
December through March. As a result of
rubbing these areas, the hair coat inside out. To prevent further tearing,
becomes sparse, and irritated skin
lesions develop.
Once the dead hair is removed by rain and rubbing, a
normal hair coat returns. If no crawling lice are on the
skin or lice eggs are glued to the hairs, the diagnosis
is based on a history that the cows had a horn fly
infestation the previous year.
Management: To prevent recurrence of this cold-season
problem, take steps to reduce the horn
fly population during the warm seasons.
“I have occasionally
a cow or a bull
crippled on one foot.”
A cow or bull with a lame foot should be examined
closely. Pick up the foot with a rope, and wash and
examine between the toes carefully, looking for a foot
crack, a corn, swelling, heat or a discharge. You will need
professional assistance to differentiate some of the other
abnormal conditions of the foot.
Unobservable problems inside the foot include bruises,
abscesses, fractures and foot founder, or laminitis. The
lameness may also be related to long toes as well as joint
inflammation of the leg, including the hip on the rear
and shoulder on the front.
Foot crack (web tear)
This condition often occurs after cattle walk on rough
terrain or when a bull places its weight on the foot when
mounting for breeding. These actions commonly spread
the toes wide apart and cause the skin to tear. Also, long
toes predispose to the likelihood of excessive spreading
of toes.
Observations: If the problem is not a corn or foot rot,
check for signs of foot crack, along
with swelling and heat of the foot.
The web of skin between the toes is also
likely to be cracked deeply into sensitive
tissue.
Management: The damaged tissue must heal from the
the cow or bull must be confined for a
few weeks to limit walking and the toes
trimmed and taped together.
Foot rot (necrotic pododermatitis)
If the problem is not foot crack, the likely problem is
foot rot, a bacterial disease of the foot. During warm,
wet weather, the bacteria in manure mixed with mud
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
commonly gain entry through tiny cracks and abrasions
of the skin between the toes and heel bulb, causing
swelling and dead tissue.
Observations: The signs of foot rot include a hot,
swollen and painful foot with pus
discharge and a dead odor, fever and
loss of appetite and body weight.
The infection may spread to the skin of
the pastern and fetlock and to bone
joints inside the foot.
Management: Because the pus discharge contains
bacteria and serves as a source of new
infections, segregate the cow or bull
from the rest of the herd for proper
antibiotic treatment. To prevent
occurrence of more cases, the unsanitary
conditions leading to this condition
must be corrected.
Corn (interdigital hyperplasia)
The development of scar tissue, or corns, in cattle is
thought to be caused by stretched skin folds between the
toes in heavy, splay-toed breeds.
Observations: A painful and hard, tumor-like, vertical
mass develops in the web of skin
between the toes.
Management: The mass must be removed surgically
and the toes bandaged closely together.
“One of my cows coughs,
protrudes her tongue and
breathes with her mouth
open.”
The cow obviously has a lung disease in which
inflammation elicits an irritated cough, and reduced air
space encourages open-mouthed breathing. Because
several infectious and noninfectious causes are possible,
professional assistance will be needed to make a specific
diagnosis by physical and laboratory examinations.
A common infectious lung disease is pneumonia; a
common noninfectious condition is fog fever.
Infectious lung disease (pneumonia)
Pneumonia is a highly complex, contagious disease
and may be caused by one of several viruses in concert
with various bacteria. Pneumonia caused by bacteria is
generally serious.
Observations: Fever, coughing and labored breathing
are caused by inflammation and
swelling of the lungs and the
accumulation of mucus, blood and
pus that interfere with airflow in the air
passages. The animal tries to get more
air by stretching out its head and neck
and protruding its tongue.
Management: When you see signs of pneumonia,
isolate the sick cow for antibiotic
treatment. Laboratory tests are needed
to identify the specific viruses or
bacteria involved to develop an effective
vaccination plan for the herd. The plan
should include vaccinating the cows,
nursing calves, bulls and replacements
with the proper vaccines.
Because stress can contribute to the
occurrence of this disease by lowering
an animal’s resistance, cattle owners
need to minimize adverse conditions of
cold or hot weather to prevent
pneumonia in the herd.
Fog fever (pulmonary emphysema and edema)
Fog fever is caused by a toxic reaction in the lungs after
the cow ingests a large quantity of an amino acid in lush,
green grass in spring or fall. Diagnosis is based on a
history of the cows being moved within the previous 10
days from a dry, brown pasture to a lush, green pasture.
Observations: Fever is not present; coughing is
minimal; and the onset of symptoms is
sudden. Breathing is obviously difficult,
with the animal breathing through its
mouth, extending its tongue and
drooling saliva.
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
Management: The affected cow should be treated by a
veterinarian and handled carefully to
prevent death by suffocation brought
about by exercise. Move the herd from
the lush pasture and gradually return it
over 3 weeks by feeding hay and
limiting grazing time.
“My calves have
runny, snotty noses.”
Runny, snotty nose can be associated with pneumonia
if the calves have fever, are coughing and have labored
breathing. Otherwise, the calves may simply have an
inflammation of the sinuses of the head, which is called
sinusitis.
Runny, snotty nose (sinusitis)
Nasal drainage in calves may be the normal discharge
of mucus from the sinuses of the head. On extremely
hot, cold or windy days, inflamed sinuses can discharge
excess drainage, even if there is no infection. Also,
irritants and allergens in the environment such as dust,
pollen and mold cause inflammation of the sinuses.
Observations: When viruses and bacteria infect the
sinuses, they produce a head cold and
cause a nasal discharge that is a clear,
mucus or pus type. Often the infection is
limited to the head and does not involve
the lungs.
Management: Do not use antibiotics if there is no
or only a low-grade fever; allow the
condition to run its course. Respiratory
vaccines may lack the specific antigens
to prevent recurrence.
“Some of my cows got
the staggers, went down
and are unable to rise.”
Cows that cannot rise must be checked by a professional,
who will conduct physical examinations and evaluate
their diet and environment. Although the cause may be
one of many poisonous plants, it is more often the result
of grazing on Dallisgrass. In chemical poisoning cases,
the cause is often the consumption of toxic amounts of
lead or arsenic from batteries or lubricating grease of
vehicles or machinery. If the cause is dietary, it is likely
that the cattle have a common metabolic disorder such
as polio, ketosis or grass tetany.
Polio (polioencephalomalacia)
Cows with polio are thin and usually have been on a
diet high in sulfate and low in protein and roughage.
They probably have been confined and fed a grain diet
without roughage.
Observations: As an affected downer cow attempts to
stand, the ankles remain flexed or
knuckled over.
Management: Immediate treatment by a veterinarian
to relieve swelling of the brain is
necessary to prevent permanent brain
damage. Adequate roughage must be
fed with grain concentrates.
Range ketosis (acetonemia, hypoglycemia)
Cows with range ketosis are usually thin, on a low-
carbohydrate, low-energy diet and likely are stressed
from cold weather or calving and nursing.
Observations: In addition to the incoordination before
going down, the cows are observed
pressing against walls, posts and trees,
bellowing and tongue wallowing and
licking.
Management: Immediate treatment by a veterinarian
is directed to raise the blood sugar and
improve glucose metabolism.
Grass tetany (hypomagnesemia)
The affected cows are thin, grazing lush pasture high
in nitrogen and potassium and likely are stressed from
cold, cloudy weather or calving and nursing.
Observations: In addition to staggers, signs in cattle
include tossing the head, bellowing and
galloping before going down with
convulsions.
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
Management: Immediate treatment by a veterinarian
is directed to raise the blood
magnesium.
“I have occasionally a thin,
downer cow.”
Dietary deficiencies are the most common cause of
weakness and weight loss in cattle. Enteric bacteria and
parasites may be contributing factors.
Observations: Tipoffs to problems in the diet include
weakness and loss of weight.
Management: Evaluate the nutritional intake,
comparing it to the protein and energy
requirements of the herd. Make
adjustments if necessary.
If the problem is limited to an individual
cow instead of affected the entire herd,
seek professional assistance to identify
the cause, such as infections of body
cavity linings (pleurisy, peritonitis) and
abscesses and cancers of internal lymph
glands and organs.
“I continue every year to have
cows prolapse and retain
afterbirth.”
It is common for a cow that has difficulty in calving
to bruise her uterus. A thin, weak cow may have a
prolonged calving process that commonly causes a
bruised uterus.
Observations: The inflamed, swollen uterus quite often
causes straining with prolapse of the
vagina, cervix or uterus. If prolapse
does not occur, the placenta may be
retained because of bruising
inflammation.
Management: Treatment by a veterinarian is directed
to replace the prolapse and expel the
retained placenta.
“I have low conception rates,
repeat breeders and abortions
in my cowherd.”
Dietary deficiencies and stresses of hot weather and
malnutrition in cows continue to be major causes of
reproductive failures. Abnormal ovaries and uterus
and starvation of the embryo or fetus are commonly
associated with inadequate intake of protein, energy,
minerals or vitamins. These reproductive problems
occur in stressed cows on poor quality or short grazing
without provisions of hay and nutrient supplements.
Observations: The herd has an unusually high number
of abortions, repeat breeders and low
conception rates that cause a large
percentage of open cows.
Management: If the problem is caused by poor
nutrition, evaluate the nutritional intake
and take corrective measures.
Professional assistance is essential to
diagnose infectious diseases, including
testing of fetuses, placenta and blood
samples.
“I had several calves suddenly
die that before dying were
rapidly breathing, weak and
feverish.”
Many infectious causes of rapid breathing, weakness
and fever, followed by sudden death of calves are
possible. Ask a veterinarian to perform a necropsy on
one of the dead calves and make a specific diagnosis by
physical and laboratory examinations. Two common
diseases that cause sudden death in calves are lepto and
blackleg.
Lepto (leptospirosis)
Lepto is caused by one of five strains of bacteria. The
bacteria are shed with urine from infected animals, such
as cattle, raccoons, skunks, opossums, rodents, deer,
swine and dogs. The bacteria may be shed for many
months.
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
For calves, the likely exposures are from the urine from
carrier cows that were stressed at calving and from
diseased and convalescent calves. Cows may have the
disease but show no signs of it. Calves are infected with
the bacteria when they ingest contaminated urine on
teats, hair, grass and hay and in water. Newborn calves
are the most susceptible to the acute disease.
Observations: The acute form of the disease causes
high fever, rapid and difficult breathing,
depression, bloody urine, incoordination
and death. Lepto calves are often
mistakenly diagnosed and treated for
pneumonia. Because the bacteria can kill
unborn calves as well as nursing calves,
it is suggested that cattle owners
evaluate the cow herd’s pregnancy rate should be burned with untreated wood
and look for aborted fetuses.
Management: For a closed herd, the most effective
approach for control is annual
vaccination of all cattle; for an open
herd, vaccinate twice yearly. If you time
the vaccination in the cow herd during
the last trimester of pregnancy, it will
provide immunity to the newborn
calves through the colostrum.
Use polyvalent killed vaccines
containing three or five common
serovars. Different vaccines vary in
effectiveness, and vaccine failures may
occur.
Blackleg (clostridial disease)
When the cause of sudden death of a calf is blackleg
bacterial toxins (poisons), the first point to make is that
the calf swallowed blackleg spores from the soil. This
means the ground is contaminated with the spores
that never die. During rains, these spores are normally
concentrated by surface water in various spots in the
ground, and drought or rains will cause them to surface
from the soil.
When ingested by a calf, the spores go to the muscles
and remain dormant. A trigger breaks them out of
dormancy, sometimes months or years later. Then the
bacteria multiply rapidly and produce toxins in the
muscles, killing the muscles (black dead muscles),
causing blood poisoning and sudden death.
The most common trigger is fast growth. Another trigger
is muscle exertion, such as that caused during working,
weaning and hauling. Affected calves may be infected
at an early age and die of blackleg at a later age. When
blackleg occurs, the transmission was not necessarily
recent, but possibly months ago.
Observations: Sudden death and rapid, gaseous
decomposition are the most common
signs of blackleg.
Management: The death is so rapid that treatment
is normally ineffective. All dead calves
products to keep from contaminating
the ground.
Because other calves can have the
bacteria in dormancy, guard against
triggers such as stress and rapid growth.
Vaccinate the remaining calves. If these
calves die, they were already infected
with the dormancy of blackleg bacteria
before vaccination. Vaccination after
exposure will not prevent the dormancy
from breaking out.
The seven-way blackleg vaccine should
be used because other strains in addition
to blackleg that also cause sudden death
can be present. The seven strains can
be diagnosed only in a dead calf by
necropsy and laboratory tests. In
addition to blackleg, the other six
clostridial diseases that cause sudden
death are black neck, black liver,
malignant edema, and B, C, D
enterotoxemia.
A proper vaccination program includes
annual vaccination of the entire herd
(calves, cows, heifers, bulls), not just
calves. Grown cattle die from four of the
seven different blackleg-type bacteria.
Cows should be vaccinated during last 3
months of pregnancy or twice a year.
Recognizing and Managing Common Health Problems of Beef Cattle.................................................................
“Some of my calves are rapidly
breathing, weak, feverish,
scouring and dying.”
Because several infectious causes are possible,
professional assistance is required to make a specific
diagnosis. Fresh feces from live calves must be
submitted for laboratory testing, and one of the dead
calves must be submitted for necropsy and physical and
laboratory examinations. Results of these examinations
commonly reveal the presence of tissue damage in the
small intestine (enteritis) and large intestine (colitis) and
bacteria in the blood (septicemia).
Scours (enteritis-colitis septicemia)
Nursing calves are at high risk to fatal diseases such as
scours from the day they are born and continuing during
the time of the year when one is calving cows and
heifers, moving and mixing these cows and heifers, and
bringing in bulls to them. At this time, the baby calves
can have low immunity and be highly susceptible to
diseases. They can die from scours by dehydration and
from septicemia by systemic infections.
Scours are caused by bacteria (E. coli and C. perfringens B,
C, D), viruses (rotovirus and coronovirus), and protozoa
in the intestines (cryptosporidia and coccidia). Scours
and dehydration worsen when affected calves nurse
natural or artificial milk and receive oral antibiotics.
The sources of these deadly germs in the pasture include
contaminated ground and fecal shedding from the cows,
heifers and bulls. When a pasture trap is used year after
year for close observation of calving cows and heifers,
the ground becomes heavily contaminated with germs
from manure. This contamination is long standing
during cool, wet weather by a build up of manure from
the calving cows and heifers and scouring calves.
Observations: Calves infected with these germs
breathe rapidly and are weak, feverish
and scouring. Death also may result.
Management: To correct the dehydration, the affected
calves must be removed from nursing
and given oral electrolytes until the
scours have stopped.
Preventive measures include increasing
the level of immunity in colostrums and
having all calves nurse the first day of
birth. Calf scours can be controlled by
vaccines containing E. coli, rotavirus,
coronavirus and C. perfringens B, C,
D. Establish an annual vaccination
program to provide immunity for
the newborn calf though the cow’s
colostrum. The pregnant cows and
heifers need to be vaccinated late in
pregnancy to be in colostrums and
provide the protective immunity against
the fatal baby calf diseases.
Other preventive measures include
reducing the level of exposures to
infectious organisms during calving
and breeding seasons. To reduce the
calf mortality related to scours and
septicemia in a cow herd calving over
a period of several months, use more
than one pasture trap to provide clean
maternity areas.